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Create Sleep Shortcut Windows 8

Question

Is there a way to place a shortcut on the desktop for Sleep? I have only found a way to shut down the machine, put it into hibernation, or to perform a hybrid shutdown (by creating a shortcut with shutdown.exe and appropriate modifiers).

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I have been to that page before, but the problem is that in the Windows 8 consumer release, the command for sleep ends up causing Hibernation. I have not found a way to put the computer into sleep mode through one of these commands. I am looking
for the command that causes sleep, not hibernation.

Configure the action for your Off switch in the Power settings. The, when you have finished for the day, just hold in the power switch. It starts the normal, safe shutdown sequence, without consequence.

Configure the action for your Off switch in the Power settings. The, when you have finished for the day, just hold in the power switch. It starts the normal, safe shutdown sequence, without consequence.

David Clarke

No, no, no, NO!

The power button - in any machine built after the ATX specification became standardized - has two functions. If you give it a single press (and DO NOT HOLD IT!), then a "shutdown" signal is sent to the operating system. The response to that signal
is what you can configure in Power settings.

If you hold in the power switch, as you advise, it sends a signal to the power supply to turn off the power; that signal bypasses anything the OS might be doing at the time. It was intended as a last resort for when the OS has stopped responding, and
that is the only time you should use it.

OK. I should have worded it as just a single push of the power button.

I have been using this method of shutting down since the first releases of Windows 8, on three domestic, stationary, computers, without any ill effects. The screen will normally come up with the message "Windows is shutting down" , and then go through the
usual sequence. After that, at the end of the day, the main switch to the equipment is switched off. Of course, to hold the button in until all activity has ceased, could be looking for a problem with a repetitive attempt to restart - probably damaging the
power supply rather than the computer. ﻿﻿﻿In more recent computers, the power button on the front of the machine actually just signals the OS to shut down, and it then shuts down gracefully. ﻿This, only apply to computers which are reasonably new say, not
more than four years old, with the soft power switch.- If the power goes off instantly when you press the button, then your computer isn't in that category. The real danger, which I take care of by closing applications first, is the loss of on-going data,
which may still be open on your desktop.

On a Desktop computer: I have noticed that the new Windows 8 Lock Screen basically functions like Sleep did in the past -- puts the computer to sleep and eventually shuts down over time when it times out, yet signing in brings everything instantly
back awake as long as one signs in before it times out. And, Hibernate no longer is offered on the Win8 shut down switch, because Sleep on that switch now seems to function like Hibernate used to function, and shuts down the computer completely while
saving the state of everything as it goes down. In other words, the old Sleep became the Lock Screen in Windows 8, and the old Hibernate became Sleep in Windows 8.

I don't know how it works on a laptop, because I don't have a laptop, but I assume the same basic ideas apply.

The net result is that the old Hibernate function has become somewhat redundant and unnecessary. In fact, I think half of the old Hibernate and Sleep functions have become part of the Fast Start option in Windows 8.

OK. I should have worded it as just a single push of the power button.

I have been using this method of shutting down since the first releases of Windows 8, on three domestic, stationary, computers, without any ill effects. The screen will normally come up with the message "Windows is shutting down" , and then go through the
usual sequence. After that, at the end of the day, the main switch to the equipment is switched off. Of course, to hold the button in until all activity has ceased, could be looking for a problem with a repetitive attempt to restart - probably damaging the
power supply rather than the computer. ﻿﻿﻿In more recent computers, the power button on the front of the machine actually just signals the OS to shut down, and it then shuts down gracefully. ﻿This, only apply to computers which are reasonably new say, not
more than four years old, with the soft power switch.- If the power goes off instantly when you press the button, then your computer isn't in that category. The real danger, which I take care of by closing applications first, is the loss of on-going data,
which may still be open on your desktop.

David Clarke

the software power switch is about 10 years old if not more, and its been working same way in all versions of windows, not just win 8

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